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Cahokia: A City of Earth Beside the River

6th grade nonfiction passage about cahokia mound city: 203 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade nonfiction cahokia mound city 203 words

Cahokia: A City of Earth Beside the River

About a thousand years ago, one of the largest cities in North America stood beside the Mississippi River. It was near where St. Louis is today. Its people are known as the Mississippians, and the city is now called Cahokia. At its busiest, thousands of people lived there.

The most striking feature of Cahokia is its mounds. The workers had no wheelbarrows, wagons, or work animals. They carried soil in baskets, load after load, and packed it into huge hills with flat tops. The biggest, called Monks Mound, is still the largest earthen mound in North America. Important buildings once stood on top of the mounds, and leaders probably held ceremonies there.

Near the center of the city lay a wide open plaza where people gathered for games, markets, and festivals. Not far away, circles of tall wooden posts stood in the ground. Researchers think the posts may have helped people watch the sunrise and mark the seasons. That would have helped them know when to plant corn.

Several hundred years later, Cahokia was nearly empty. Scientists are still studying why people left. No single answer is certain. What remains are the great mounds, quiet reminders of a busy city built with baskets.

Questions

  1. Where did Cahokia stand? in the text

  2. How did the workers move soil to build the mounds? in the text

  3. What is Monks Mound? in the text

  4. What did people do in the central plaza? in the text

  5. Why might the circles of wooden posts have been useful to farmers? think about it

  6. Why can nobody say for certain why Cahokia was emptied? think about it

Words to know

mounds
large hills of earth built by people
earthen
made out of soil or dirt
ceremonies
special events held for an important purpose
plaza
a wide open space in a town where people meet
researchers
people who study a subject to learn new facts
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One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 158 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 4.2

A thousand years ago, a big city stood by the Mississippi River. It was near where St. Louis is now. The people were called the Mississippians. We call the city Cahokia. Thousands of people lived there.

The city had huge hills of earth, called mounds. The workers had no wagons or work animals. They carried soil in baskets. They packed it into hills with flat tops. The biggest one is Monks Mound. It is the largest earthen mound in North America. Leaders probably held ceremonies on top of the mounds.

In the middle of the city was a wide open plaza. People came there for games, markets, and festivals. Nearby were circles of tall wooden posts. The posts may have helped people watch the sunrise and see the seasons change. That helped them know when to plant corn.

Many years later, the city was almost empty. Nobody is sure why people left. The mounds are still there today.

▲ This passage · 203 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.6

About a thousand years ago, one of the largest cities in North America stood beside the Mississippi River. It was near where St. Louis is today. Its people are known as the Mississippians, and the city is now called Cahokia. At its busiest, thousands of people lived there.

The most striking feature of Cahokia is its mounds. The workers had no wheelbarrows, wagons, or work animals. They carried soil in baskets, load after load, and packed it into huge hills with flat tops. The biggest, called Monks Mound, is still the largest earthen mound in North America. Important buildings once stood on top of the mounds, and leaders probably held ceremonies there.

Near the center of the city lay a wide open plaza where people gathered for games, markets, and festivals. Not far away, circles of tall wooden posts stood in the ground. Researchers think the posts may have helped people watch the sunrise and mark the seasons. That would have helped them know when to plant corn.

Several hundred years later, Cahokia was nearly empty. Scientists are still studying why people left. No single answer is certain. What remains are the great mounds, quiet reminders of a busy city built with baskets.

■ Harder · 235 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 10.8

Roughly a thousand years ago, one of the most populous cities in North America flourished beside the Mississippi River, close to the site of present-day St. Louis. Its inhabitants are known as the Mississippians, and the settlement is now called Cahokia. At the height of its activity, thousands of people lived within the city and in the farming villages that surrounded it.

The most remarkable feature of Cahokia is its collection of mounds. Because the workers had no wheelbarrows, wagons, or work animals, they carried soil in baskets, load after patient load, and packed it into enormous flat-topped hills. The largest of these, called Monks Mound, remains the biggest earthen mound anywhere in North America. Important buildings once stood on the summits of the mounds, and leaders probably conducted ceremonies there.

Near the heart of the city lay a broad, open plaza where residents assembled for games, markets, and festivals. Not far away, circles of tall wooden posts rose from the ground. Researchers believe that these posts may have helped people observe the sunrise and keep track of the seasons, knowledge that would have been valuable when deciding the right time to plant corn.

Several centuries later, Cahokia stood almost deserted. Scientists continue to investigate why its people departed, and no single explanation is certain. What survives are the great mounds, quiet reminders of a bustling city constructed with baskets, patience, and determination.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put mounds, earthen, ceremonies, plaza and researchers on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 5 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Cahokia: A City of Earth Beside the River"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 203 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 6.6. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 2 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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